Police report: Ex-husband called in sick for wife the day after she was killed

Three days before Willie Foster was charged with murder, he called the workplace of his ex-wife and said she was sick and wouldn’t make it to work.

By Erin Shannon

The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

By Erin Shannon

Posted May. 8, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated May 8, 2013 at 8:10 AM

By Erin Shannon

Posted May. 8, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated May 8, 2013 at 8:10 AM

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On the day after Willie Foster is accused of stabbing his former wife to death, he called her workplace and said she would be out sick, according to court documents.

That was on Thursday. Anita Clark, his ex-wife, did not show up for work at a medical clinic in Boston on Friday either.

It was a phone call to Stoughton police from friends and colleagues of Clark that led to police finding her decomposing body in the closet of her Stoughton bedroom on Saturday, according to authorities.

Clark, 46, is believed to have been stabbed more than 20 times last Wednesday, May 1, by Foster, the father of her two children.

Foster, 47, pleaded not guilty to one charge of murder in Stoughton District Court on Monday. He was held without bail and is scheduled to appear in court on June 7 for a probable cause hearing.

The estranged couple have two children, a 13-old daughter and 6-year-old son, according to divorce papers filed in Norfolk County Family and Probate Court in Canton.

The two were married on May 19, 2006, in Boston. They later moved to an apartment on Canton Street in Stoughton before Clark filed for divorce in 2011. Clark sought to dissolve the marriage due to “cruel and verbal abuse treatment and desertion,” court files show.

“I ask that Willie Foster move out and I pray, get himself together (back on track) if not for himself, for his children,” Clark wrote in the court filings.

Their divorce was granted in 2011, and Clark was given sole custody of their two children with discretion on Foster’s visiting rights. Foster was required to pay $50 in child support per week.

No restraining orders against Foster were filed in Stoughton District Court.

In late January of this year, Clark filed a change of address with the county’s family court to 76 Glen Echo Blvd., where her body was discovered Saturday.

Police reports filed in Stoughton District Court recount the gruesome discovery of the 47-year-old phlebotomist.

When police entered the home on Saturday, they could smell the odor of a decomposing body, the report states. Clark was discovered about 7:20 p.m. wrapped in a blanket under bags of clothing in a closet in the master bedroom of the Stoughton home she had rented, according to the report.

One detective wrote the odor was so strong when the closet door opened, it “caused me to take a step back.”

“We’ve got a body,” was called out over the radio, the report states.

Once Clark was found, police checked the welfare of her children, Stoughton Police Deputy Chief Robert Devine said. The children had been staying with an aunt in Boston, the same address listed for Foster, according to the report.

Page 2 of 2 - Also found in the woman’s bedroom was a children’s storybook with a note inside that police believe was written by Foster, the reports filed in court state.

The note talks about a relationship Clark had with another man and it said how Foster “loved his children and how they will never see their mother again,” according to the report.

Boston police arrested Foster in Mattapan on Monday morning after a person called in a report of his missing 2001 Pontiac Aztek.

Foster’s criminal record showed previous offenses that include assault and battery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, illegal carrying of a dangerous weapon, true name violation, possession of a Class B drug, possession of a Class A drug to distribute, shoplifting, larceny and robbery, police reports stated.

Stoughton police had not been called to Clark’s home before Saturday, said Devine.

David Traub, a spokesman for the Norfolk County District Attorney’s office, said the investigation is ongoing.